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Amiga Demo Scene CD Idea

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2022 11:24 am
by terriblefire
Now that the CD32 060 is almost (fingers crossed) ready i've been increasingly of the opinion that what i want is a CD i can put in the drive and it will play me random amiga demos on a loop.

In order for this to work...

1. the demos must exit clean without button presses.
2. the last demo number played must get written to NVRAM so its not repeated over and over (or some good random number generator is needed).

I believe there is an NVRAM library that can write to disk instead of the actual NVRAM?

I would like to be able to build this CD image using a Script that pulls the demos from a prime source (e.g. scene.org). This way you can distribute the script, update it to add more demos, and build your image. I'm also thinking a later date version might run by pulling the demos over a network.. but thats a higher barrier to entry than just a CD image.

So i need a few things.

1. Suggestions for how we collate this list of demos.
2. Suggestions for something that could display the name of the demo before its launched (full screen, i want to be able to read it from across the room).

I'm not trying to put down other great projects that can fetch demos on the fly here.. i'm just looking for a zero setup CD32 specific solution.

EDIT: Also if a project like this already exists i'm cool with just using that

--------------
# Only demos that exit naturally
# Archive,CWD,Exe

Code: Select all

https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/T/The_Black_Lotus/TBL-Requiem.lha,,Requiem.exe
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/R/Rave_Network_Overscan/rno-ocean.lha,,electric_ocean.exe
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/W/Whelpz/wpz-wcca.lha,wpz-wcca,wpz-wcca.exe
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/T/Traction/Traction-PastIsPrologue.lha,,traction_pip
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/R/Rave_Network_Overscan/metropol.lha,,metropolice.exe
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/E/Ephidrena/eph_dke-ChipsDontLie.lha,,darkidrena.exe
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/E/Elude/eld-wcip.lha,eld-wcip,wcip_demo,550
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/L/Loonies/smokeand.lha,,SmokeAndMirrors,550
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/L/Loonies/LNS-MultiverseFinal.lha,,multiverse_aga.exe
https://archive.scene.org/pub/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/G/Ghostown/gtn_hjb-lasttrain-party.lha,,lasttrain-party
https://files.scene.org/get/demos/groups/tbl/amiga/rift-final.zip,,!Start
https://files.scene.org/get/demos/groups/tbl/amiga/tbl-oceanmachinefinal.lha,,OceanMachine.exe
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/T/The_Black_Lotus/TBL-CapturedDreams.lha,,TBL-CD.EXE,500
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/T/The_Black_Lotus/tbl-magia.lha,,Magia.exe,400
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/E/Elude/eld-srty.lha,eld-serenity,eld-serenity,450
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/E/Elude/eld-lspv.lha,eld-lightshaft-partyversion,eld-lightshaft.exe,400
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/E/Elude/eld-riseandshineami.lha,,eld-riseandshine,260
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/E/Elude/eld-dust.lha,eld-dust,eld-dust,300
https://files.scene.org/get/parties/2013/revision13/amiga_demo/eld-machinist.lha,,eld-machinist,430
https://files.scene.org/get/parties/2009/function09/demo/eld-stepbystep_final.lha,eld-stepbystep,eld-stepbystep
https://files.scene.org/get/parties/2006/assembly06/demo/tbl-starstruck-finalversion.zip,,Starstruck-Final.exe
https://ftp.untergrund.net/users/breakpoint/2004/Amiga%20Demo/tbl-silkcutfinal.lha,,SilkCut.exe
https://files.scene.org/get/parties/2021/revision21/amiga-demo/flex-themartinieffect.lha,,demo-060
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/G/Ghostown/GT_LNS-humantraffic.lha,,HumanTraffic
https://files.scene.org/get/mirrors/amigascne/Groups/D/Dekadence/DKD&ACC-Grind,,DKD&ACC-Grind

Re: Amiga Demo Scene CD Idea

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2022 5:42 pm
by Higgy
Sounds good.
I helped on a demo project for the CD32: 4 Decades of Amiga Demos.
My role was just testing a massive selection of demos, so can't help with programming.

https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=75945

As the 'disable' header on the TF330 does not work, I was going to ask if it will on the TF360 (and the Rev 2 more importantly for me), as I would like to run that demo disc and get max compatibility.

I am thinking about ~650mb discs. I've been running lots of 060 demos on 360 & 1260 and those demos can use up quite a bit of space compared to ECS/OCS ones . I know I seem to keep going up on CF card size. I should look up what space they are using.

Re: Amiga Demo Scene CD Idea

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2022 7:02 pm
by terriblefire
Higgy wrote: Tue Jul 12, 2022 5:42 pm Sounds good.
I helped on a demo project for the CD32: 4 Decades of Amiga Demos.
My role was just testing a massive selection of demos, so can't help with programming.

https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=75945

As the 'disable' header on the TF330 does not work, I was going to ask if it will on the TF360 (and the Rev 2 more importantly for me), as I would like to run that demo disc and get max compatibility.

I am thinking about ~650mb discs. I've been running lots of 060 demos on 360 & 1260 and those demos can use up quite a bit of space compared to ECS/OCS ones . I know I seem to keep going up on CF card size. I should look up what space they are using.
The disable header does work on the TF360 (same as the TF1260).

But i was thinking more like categorise the demos so that ones that need 020 wouldnt run if the 060 was active etc.

That project looks good but i dont want a menu :)

I'm happy to code up the launcher but i do need some help whittling down the content to the 060 set that exits clean.

Re: Amiga Demo Scene CD Idea

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2022 10:01 pm
by Higgy
I don't mind another 060 demo watching session when the latest TF360 firmware comes out and noting which ones will just exit to the Shell when they get to the end. My CF cards have most of them on now.

From memory, the majority of 060 demos get to the end and just exit, so that is good with your plan.

There might be a few that might not run if too much Chipram is used with your loader etc. I tend to boot No Startup-Sequence, SetPatch then CD to directory and load demos.

Re: Amiga Demo Scene CD Idea

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2022 8:51 am
by terriblefire
Higgy wrote: Tue Jul 12, 2022 10:01 pm I don't mind another 060 demo watching session when the latest TF360 firmware comes out and noting which ones will just exit to the Shell when they get to the end. My CF cards have most of them on now.

From memory, the majority of 060 demos get to the end and just exit, so that is good with your plan.

There might be a few that might not run if too much Chipram is used with your loader etc. I tend to boot No Startup-Sequence, SetPatch then CD to directory and load demos.
Cool. So lets start with a stupid simple format.

URL of LHA. Folder to "CD" into e.g. CWD. Exec to run

I've put an example in the first post and i can try and keep that list uptodate. Or at some point i could create a git repo for this.

For the chipram thing... I intended to put the Setpatch on the CD. But run my exec to randomly choose a demo set the CWD and have it exit printing the executable name.... pipe this into something that will run this..

If we get a failure code from the demo we reboot. Some demos are crap at freeing up memory so we might need a reboot flag in our list.

Re: Amiga Demo Scene CD Idea

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2022 2:16 pm
by alexh
Are we only listing demos that require an 060?

Code: Select all

https://files.scene.org/get/parties/2006/assembly06/demo/tbl-starstruck-finalversion.zip,tbl-starstruck-finalversion,Starstruck-Final.exe
https://files.scene.org/get/demos/groups/tbl/amiga/tbl-oceanmachinefinal.lha,tbl-oceanmachinefinal,OceanMachine.exe
https://ftp.untergrund.net/users/breakpoint/2004/Amiga%20Demo/tbl-silkcutfinal.lha,tbl-silkcutfinal,SilkCut.exe
https://files.scene.org/get/demos/groups/tbl/amiga/rift-final.zip,rift-final,Start
https://files.scene.org/get/parties/2001/assembly01/demo/lapsuus.lha,lapsuuslapsuus.exe

Re: Amiga Demo Scene CD Idea

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2022 2:29 pm
by terriblefire
alexh wrote: Wed Jul 13, 2022 2:16 pm Are we only listing demos that require an 060?
Not that "require" an 060 but that would run clean with one even if they dont need one.

Re: Amiga Demo Scene CD Idea

Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2022 12:55 pm
by terriblefire
The current list updated. Added martini effect. I've started writing the script to make the demo cd.

Currently the unpacked contexts of these demos is 115Mbytes

Re: Amiga Demo Scene CD Idea

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 8:36 pm
by terriblefire
done some more work on this today. To save people time the following demos do not quit nice. Its a shame but they cant be included

Grind.
eld-dust
eld-riseandshine.

Re: Amiga Demo Scene CD Idea

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 9:47 pm
by Higgy
Ah that is a shame, those are good demos for showing off 060 power.

An idea. You mentioned using the NVRAM. Is it possible to save a flag for CPU speed? So the initial boot you would set a speed that just this demo CD reads. Some people might not be able to pass 50Mhz, but others could have fans etc and sit at a higher MHz no problem. And a lot of 060 demos love extra MHz.

(Thinking about it, I suppose we will be burning the image once done, so I guess we would be free to set 'Setspeed Speed=' in the startup -sequence. The NVRAM option would be cleaner and allow easier sharing of the finished .ISO)